Unit 7
Humor
Keys to Exercises Section Ⅰ Listening Strategies Part Ⅱ Consolidation
Answer keys for this part are open . Section Ⅱ Listening Comprehension Part Ⅰ Dialogues Dialogue 1 Main Idea
1. This program is called Talk About It. Today‘s topic is humor .
2. The guest speaker is Dr. James Sanders ,a sociologist who studies humor .He‘s just written a new book , American Humor ,about jokes in the United States. 3.
? Humor tells us a lot about society and how we think . ? Humor can help people deal with problems and it can also help people bond to each other .
? We love this type of joke —a pun —because we love to play with words .
? Usually the jokes make fun of a particular group of
people or a profession in some way .
? People often make jokes about their own group as a way of showing group solidarity ,or just to make fun of themselves .But the same jokes are offensive when they are told by someone outside the group . Details and Inferences Ⅰ.
1. They help us deal with our feeling about these issues . 2. The host means ―What makes us laugh ?‖
3. The lawyer‘s joke goes like this :A man goes to see a famous lawyer . The man asks , ―How much do you charge?‖ The lawyer answers, ―I charge $200 to answer three questions .‖ The man says , ―The man says, ―Isn‘t that expensive ?‖―Yes, it is,‖ replies the lawyer. ―Now, what‘s your third question ?‖
The joke is funny because normally lawyer won‘t charge to answer this type of question .
The joke tells us what it‘s very expensive to hire a lawyer . Ⅱ
1.F 2.F 3.T 4. T
Dialogue 2 Main Idea
Two friends are talking about comedies and comics they like the most .They also mention the efforts comics have to make in order to amuse audience . Details and Inferences Ⅰ
1. His favorite comic is a draw between Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock .
2. No. He started watching it after the show ended like when everybody was watching the season finale .He had never really regularly watched the show and he didn‘t even catch the season finale .So he is not a big fan of Seinfeild. 3. Wendy thinks Seinfeild brilliant . Ⅱ
Comics :Dave Chappelle ,Chris Rock ,
Comedies: Chapelle Show ,Stand-Up,Seinfeid Part Ⅱ Passages Passages 1 Main Idea Ⅰ.
Humor is the tendency of particular cognitive
experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement Many theories exist about what humor is and what social function it serves . People of most ages and cultures respond to humor . Details and Inferences
1.Humor is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences amusement .
2.The majority of people are able to be amused ,to laugh or smile at something funny ,and thus they are considered to have a ―sense of humor‖.
3.German author Georg Lichtenberg said that ―the more you know humor ,the more you become demanding in fineness ‖.
4.Humor occurs when the brain recognizes a pattern that surprise it ,and that recognition of this sort is rewarded with the experience of the humorous response ,an element of which is broadcast as laughter .
Passages 2 Main Idea
The passage introduces the history and current situation
to
provoke
laughter
and
provide
of British radio comedy. Radio comedy has been almost exclusively the preserve of the BBC ,and a number of British radio comedies achieved considerable renown in the second half of the twentieth century . Details and Inferences See the script. Passages 3 Main Idea
1. The passage mainly explains the characteristics of a British sitcom. It is a situation comedy produced in the United Kingdom. Like sitcoms in most other countries , they tend to be based around a family ,workplace or other institution where a group of contrasting characters are brought together in each episode. 2. A British sitcom is a situation comedy produced in the United Kingdom. Like sitcoms in most other countries, They tend to be based around a family ,workplace or other institution where a group of contrasting characters are brought together each episode .A common factor is the exploration of social mores, often with a mix of satire or pathos , in contrast to the sometimes uplifting sentiments of many classic